Kunar residents seek end to forest cutting

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Nangarhar-based residents of eastern Kunur province and some civil society activists on Saturday protested against deforestation, demanding an end to the felling of trees.

Nangarhar Governor Gulab Mangal also participated in the protest gathering arranged at the Shirzai Stadium in Jalalabad. He promised sharing their issue with ministries concerned.

Earlier, the cabinet decided that Kunur wood products could be transported to any province of the country. Simultaneously, reports regarding the cutting of green forests in different parts of the province were released.

An organiser of the protest, Hamdullah Arbab, speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, called forests national wealth which the government must protect. “We made a symbolic, with a tree hanging from it. Our objective is to help the government prevent this disaster.”

Civil society activist Eng Abaseen Baheer held the government responsible for preserving natural wealth. The cutting of forests contributed to environmental pollution and loss of resources, he observed.

Idress Gharwal, a resident Kunur who also attended the gathering, complained provincial forests had been exploited over the past three decades, but he government did not pay any attention to this issue.

He blamed some parliamentarians and mafia groups for being complicity in the practice. At the end of the protest, participants issued a five-point resolution, seeking prevention of forest cutting, new plantation drives and punishment for those involved in felling trees.